Empty Vessel Sound Design has announced the release of Ghosts WAV Edition, a collection of 79 drones, tones to create playable instruments, background layers, stabs and fx noises full of dust, noise and crackles.

Ghosts is a continuation of my fascination with imperfection of all types, the bruises and battle-scars, the ghosts and dust which are inherently missing quite often from software instruments and ITB production. I really set out to create a set of inspiring samples to serve as jumping off points in the creation of dark ambient or soundtrack compositions but they would work well in a range of bass-orientated and lo-fi genres. The sounds are dusty, dirty and full of artifacts both analogue and digital.

The sources are very diverse but include some samples from my tired old Austrian upright piano, using a Rode NTG1 microphone to focus very closely in to capture some out of tune notes, string scrapes and plucks and noises from the wooden case of the piano itself. Other field recordings, heavily processed, are also used along with some hardware synths and software sources processed through an array of software, cassette, dictaphone, reel to reel and of course, my vintage hardware samplers (Akai S1000KB, Ensoniq Mirage & ASR10 and Akai X7000)

Ghosts WAV Edition is available for $9.50 USD.

Three Focus series packs have been released as well. These smaller, focused, high concentration expansions span a range of instruments and fx.

  • Focus01 for Unfiltered Audio Lion is a set of 33 presets (an extra one slipped in while making the demo). Mainly pads and keys, some cold and digital, some a bit noisy and textured and full of imperfection, some warm and lush, most evolving and complex.
  • Focus02 for Plugin Alliance Dmitry Sches Thorn includes 32 presets. Mainly keys and pads, from cold digital to warm and lush, evolving and very complex, fully exploring Thorn’s ample range in a concentrated set of highly detailed and inspiring patches.
  • Focus03 for Kilohearts Phase Plant utilizes a pool of original sample content both in the sample playback module and with new wavetables to explore some of the scope for evolving, complex pads, keys and FX within Phase Plant.

The Focus packs are $9.50 USD each.

More information: Empty Vessel Sound Design